PART ONE

CHAPTER 4.

THE AGE OF MIRACLES

LET us now, however, proceed to examine the
evidence for the reality of miracles, and to inquire whether they
are supported by such an amount of testimony as can in any degree
outweigh the reasons which, antecedently, seem to render them
incredible. It is undeniable that belief in the miraculous has
gradually been dispelled, and that, as a general rule, the only
miracles which are now maintained are limited to brief and distant
periods of time. Faith in their reality, once so comprehensive,
does not, except amongst a certain class, extend beyond the
miracles of the New Testament and a few of those of the Old, and
the countless myriads of ecclesiastical and other miracles, for
centuries devoutly and implicitly believed, are now commonly
repudiated, and have sunk into discredit and contempt. The question
is inevitably suggested how so much can be abandoned and the
remnant still be upheld.

As an essential part of our inquiry into the value
of the evidence for miracles, we must endeavour to ascertain
whether those who are said to have witnessed the supposed
miraculous occurrences were either competent to appreciate them
aright, or likely to report them without exaggeration. For this
purpose, we must consider what was known of the order of nature in
the age in which miracles are said to have taken place, and what
was the intellectual character of the people amongst whom they are
reported to have been performed. Nothing is more rare, even amongst
intelligent and cultivated men, than accuracy of observation and
correctness of report, even in matters of sufficient importance to
attract vivid attention, and in which there is no special interest
unconsciously to bias the observer. It will scarcely be denied,
however, that in persons of fervid imagination, and with a strong
natural love of the marvellous, whose minds are not only
unrestrained by specific knowledge, but predisposed by superstition
towards false conclusions, the probability of inaccuracy and
exaggeration is enormously increased. If we add to this such a
disturbing element as religious excitement, inaccuracy,
exaggeration, and extravagance are certain to occur. The effect of
even one of these influences, religious feeling, in warping the
judgment is admitted by one of the most uncompromising supporters
of miracles. "It is doubtless the tendency of
religious minds," says Newman, "to imagine mysteries and wonders
where there are none -- and much more, where causes of awe really
exist, will they unintentionally misstate, exaggerate, and
embellish, when they set themselves to relate what they have
witnessed or have heard"; and he adds: "And further, the
imagination, as is well known, is a fruitful cause of apparent
miracles." [56:1] We need not offer any
evidence that the miracles which we have to examine were witnessed
and reported by persons exposed to the effects of the strongest
possible religious feeling and excitement, and our attention may,
therefore, be more freely directed to the inquiry how far this
influence was modified by other circumstances. Did the Jews at the
time of Jesus possess such calmness of judgment and sobriety of
imagination as to inspire us with any confidence in accounts of
marvellous occurrences, unwitnessed except by them, and limited to
their time, which contradict all knowledge and all experience? Were
their minds sufficiently enlightened and free from superstition to
warrant our attaching weight to their report of events of such an
astounding nature? And were they themselves sufficiently impressed
with the exceptional character of any apparent supernatural and
miraculous interference with the order of nature?

Let an English historian and divine, who will be
acknowledged as no prejudiced witness, bear testimony upon some of
these points. "Nor is it less important," says Dean Milman,
"throughout the early history of Christianity, to seize the spirit
of the times. Events which appear to us so extraordinary that we
can scarcely conceive that they should either fail in exciting a
powerful sensation or ever be obliterated from the popular
remembrance, in their own day might pass off as of little more than
ordinary occurrence. During the whole life of Christ, and the early
propagation of the religion, it must be borne in mind that they
took place in an age, and among a people, which superstition had
made so familiar with what were supposed to be preternatural events
that wonders awakened no emotion, or were speedily superseded by
some new demand on the ever-ready belief. The Jews of that period
not only believed that the Supreme Being had the power of
controlling the course of nature, but that the same influence was
possessed by multitudes of subordinate spirits, both good and evil.
Where the pious Christian of the present day would behold the
direct agency of the Almighty, the Jews would invariably have
interposed an angel as the author or ministerial agent in the
wonderful transaction. Where the Christian
moralist would condemn the fierce passion, the ungovernable lust,
or the inhuman temper, the Jew discerned the workings of diabolical
possession. Scarcely a malady was endured, or crime committed,
which was not traced to the operation of one of these myriad
daemons, who watched every opportunity of exercising their malice
in the sufferings and the sins of men." [57:1]

Superstitious Character of the
Jews
Another English divine, of certainly not less orthodoxy, but of
much greater knowledge of Hebrew literature, bears similar
testimony regarding the Jewish nation at the same period. "Not to
be more tedious, therefore, in this matter" (regarding the Bath
Kol, a Jewish superstition), "let two things only be observed: (1)
That the nation, under the second Temple, was given to magical arts
beyond measure; and (2) That it was given to an easiness of
believing all manner of delusions beyond measure." [57:2] And in another place: "It is a disputable
case, whether the Jewish nation were more mad with superstition in
matters of religion, or with superstition in curious arts: (1)
There was not a people upon earth that studied or attributed more
to dreams than they. (2) There was hardly any people in the whole
world that more used, or were more fond of, amulets, charms,
mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments. We might here
produce innumerable instances." [57:3] We shall
presently see that these statements are far from being exaggerated.

No reader of the Old Testament [57:4] can fail to have been struck
by the singularly credulous fickleness of the Jewish mind. Although
claiming the title of the specially selected people of Jehovah, the
Israelites exhibited a constant and inveterate tendency to forsake
his service for the worship of other gods. The mighty "signs and
wonders" which God is represented as incessantly working on their
behalf, and in their sight, had apparently no effect upon them. The
miraculous even then had, as it would seem, already lost all
novelty, and ceased, according to the records, to excite more than
mere passing astonishment. The leaders and
prophets of Israel had a perpetual struggle to restrain the people
from "following after" heathen deities, and whilst the burden of
the prophets is one long denunciation of the idolatry into which
the nation was incessantly falling, the verdict of the historical
books upon the several kings and rulers of Israel proves how common
it was, and how rare even the nominal service of Jehovah. At the
best, the mind of the Jewish nation, only after long and slow
progression, attained the idea of a perfect monotheism, but added
to the belief in Jehovah the recognition of a host of other gods,
over whom it merely gave him supremacy. [58:1] This is apparent even in the
first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"; and
the necessity for such a law received its illustration from a
people who are represented as actually worshipping the golden calf,
made for them by the complaisant Aaron, during the very time that
the great Decalogue was being written on the Mount by his colleague
Moses. [58:2] It is not, therefore, to be
wondered at that at a later period, and throughout patristic days,
the gods of the Greeks and other heathen nations were so far gently
treated that, although repudiated as deities, they were recognised
as demons. In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, where
"idols" are spoken of in the Hebrew, the word is sometimes
translated "demons"; as, for instance, Psalm 96:5 is rendered: "For
all the gods of the nations are demons." [58:3] The same superstition is
quite as clearly expressed in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul,
for instance, speaking of things sacrificed to idols, says: "But (I
say) that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice
to demons, and not to God; and I would not that ye should be
partakers with demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the
cup of demons; ye cannot partake of the Lord's table, and of the
table of demons." [58:4]

The apocryphal Book of Tobit affords some
illustration of the opinions of the more enlightened Jews during
the last century before the commencement of the Christian
era. [59:1] The angel Raphael
prescribes, as an infallible means of driving a demon out of man or
woman so effectually that it should never more come back,
fumigation with the heart and liver of a fish. [59:2] By this exorcism the demon
Asmodeus, who, from love of Sara, the daughter of Raguel, has
strangled seven husbands who attempted to marry
her, [59:3] is overcome, and flies into
"the uttermost parts of Egypt," where the angel binds
him. [59:4] The belief in demons, and in
the necessity of exorcism, is so complete that the author sees no
incongruity in describing the angel Raphael, who has been sent, in
answer to prayer, specially to help him, as instructing Tobias to
adopt such means of subjecting demons. Raphael is described in this
book as the angel of healing, [59:5] the
office generally assigned to him by the Fathers. He is also
represented as saying of himself that he is one of the seven holy
angels which present the prayers of the saints to
God. [59:6]

The Book of Enoch
There are many curious particulars regarding angels and demons in
the Book of Enoch. This work, which is quoted by the author of the
Epistle of Jude, [59:7] and by some of the Fathers,
as inspired Scripture, was supposed by Tertullian to have survived
the universal deluge, or to have been afterwards transmitted by
means of Noah, the great-grandson of the author
Enoch. [59:8] It may be assigned to about
a century before Christ, but additions were made to the text, and
more especially to its angelology, extending probably to after the
commencement of our era. It undoubtedly represents views popularly
prevailing about the epoch in which we are interested. The author
not only relates the fall of the angels through love for the
daughters of men, but gives the names of twenty-one of them and of
their leaders; of whom Jequn was he who seduced the holy angels,
and Ashbeêl it was who gave them evil counsel and corrupted
them. [59:9] A third,
Gadreêl, [59:10] was he who seduced Eve. He
also taught to the children of men the use and manufacture of all
murderous weapons, of coats of mail, shields, swords, and of all
the implements of death. Another evil angel, named
Pênêmuê, taught them many mysteries of wisdom.
He instructed men in the art of writing with
paper (chartês) and ink, by means of which, the author
remarks, many fall into sin even to the present day. Kaodejâ,
another evil angel, taught the human race all the wicked practices
of spirits and demons, [60:1] and also
magic and exorcism. [60:2] The
offspring of the fallen angels and of the daughters of men were
giants, whose height was 3,000 ells; [60:3] of these are the demons working evil upon
earth. [60:4] Azazel taught men various
arts: the making of bracelets and ornaments; the use of cosmetics,
the way to beautify the eyebrows; precious stones, and all
dye-stuffs and metals; whilst other wicked angels instructed them
in all kinds of pernicious knowledge. [60:5] The
elements and all the phenomena of nature are controlled and
produced by the agency of angels. Uriel is the angel of thunder and
earthquakes -- Raphael, of the spirits of men; Raguel is the angel
who executes vengeance on the world and the stars; Michael is set
over the best of mankind -- i.e., over the people of
Israel; [60:6] Saraqâel, over the
souls of the children of men who are misled by the spirits of sin;
and Gabriel is over serpents and over Paradise, and over the
Cherubim. [60:7] Enoch is shown the mystery
of all the operations of nature and the action of the elements, and
he describes the spirits which guide them and control the thunder
and lightning and the winds; the spirit of the seas, who curbs them
with his might, or tosses them forth and scatters them through the
mountains of the earth; the spirit of hoar frost, and the spirit of
hail, and the spirit of snow. There are, in fact, special spirits
set over every phenomenon of nature-frost, thaw, mist, rain, light,
and so on. [60:8] The heavens and the earth
are filled with spirits. Raphael is the angel set over all the
diseases and wounds of mankind, Gabriel over all powers, and Fanuel
over the penitence and the hope of those who inherit eternal
life. [60:9] The decree for the
destruction of the human race goes forth from the presence of the
Lord because men know all the mysteries of the angels, all the evil
works of Satan, and all the secret might and power of those who
practise the art of magic, and the power of conjuring and such
arts. [60:10] The stars are represented
as animated beings. Enoch sees seven stars bound together in space
like great mountains, and flaming as with fire; and he inquires of
the angel who leads him, on account of what sin they are so bound?
Uriel informs him that they are stars which have
transgressed the commands of the Highest God, and they are thus
bound until ten thousand worlds, the number of the days of their
transgression, shall be accomplished. [61:1] The
belief that sun, moon, and stars were living entities possessed of
souls was generally held by the Jews at the beginning of our era,
along with Greek philosophers, and we shall presently see it
expressed by the Fathers. Philo Judaeus considers the stars
spiritual beings full of virtue and perfection, [61:2] and that to them is granted
lordship over other heavenly bodies, not absolute, but as viceroys
under the Supreme Being. [61:3] We find a
similar view regarding the nature of the stars expressed in the
Apocalypse, [61:4] and it constantly appears in
the Talmud and Targums. An angel of the sun and moon is described
in the Ascensio Isaiae. [61:5]

Angelology of the Jews
We are able to obtain a full and minute conception of the belief
regarding angels and demons and their influence over cosmical
phenomena, as well as of other superstitions current amongst the
Jews at the time of Jesus, from the Talmud, Targums, and other
Rabbinical sources. We cannot, however, do more, here, than merely
glance at these voluminous materials. The angels are perfectly pure
spirits, without sin, and not visible to mortal eyes. When they
come down to earth on any mission, they are clad in light and
veiled in air. If, however, they remain longer than seven days on
earth, they become so clogged with the earthly matter in which they
have been immersed that they cannot again ascend to the upper
heavens. [61:6] Their multitude is
innumerable, [61:7] and new angels are every day
created, who in succession praise God and make way for
others. [61:8] The expression, "host of
heaven," is a common one in the Old Testament, and the idea was
developed into a heavenly army. The first Gospel represents Jesus
as speaking of "more than twelve legions of
angels." [61:9] Every angel has one
particular duty to perform, and no more; thus of the three angels
who appeared to Abraham, one was sent to announce that Sarah should
have a son, the second to rescue Lot, and the third to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah. [61:10] The angels serve God in the administration of the
universe, and to special angels are assigned the different parts of
nature. "There is not a thing in the world, not even a little herb,
over which there is not an angel set, and everything happens
according to the command of these appointed
angels." [62:1] It will be remembered that
the agency of angels is frequently introduced in the Old Testament
and still more so in the Septuagint version, by alterations of the
text. One notable case of such agency may be referred to, where the
pestilence which is sent to punish David for numbering the people
is said to be caused by an angel, whom David even sees. The Lord is
represented as repenting of the evil, when the angel was stretching
forth his hand against Jerusalem, and bidding him stay his hand
after the angel had destroyed seventy thousand men by the
pestilence. [62:2] This theory of disease has
prevailed until comparatively recent times. The names of many of
the superintending angels are given - as, for instance: Jehuel is
set over fire, Michael over water, Jechiel over wild beasts, and
Anpiel over birds. Over cattle Hariel is appointed, and Samniel
over created things moving in the waters, and over the face of the
earth; Messahnnahel over reptiles, Deliel over fish. Ruchiel is set
over the winds, Gabriel over thunder and also over fire, and over
the ripening of fruit; Nuriel over hail, Makturiel over rocks,
Alpiel over fruit-bearing trees, Saroel over those which do not
bear fruit, and Sandalfon over the human race; and under each of
these there are subordinate angels. [62:3] It was
believed that there were two angels of Death, one for those who
died out of the land of Israel, who was an evil angel, called
Samael (and at other times Satan, Asmodeus, etc.), and the other,
who presided over the dead of the land of Israel, the holy angel
Gabriel; and under these there was a host of evil spirits and
angels. [62:4] We shall
presently see how general this belief regarding angels was amongst
the Fathers, but it is also expressed in the New Testament. In the
Apocalypse there appears an angel who has power over
fire, [62:5] and in another place four
angels have power to hurt the earth and the sea. [62:6] The angels
were likewise the instructors of men, and communicated knowledge to
the Patriarchs. The angel Gabriel taught Joseph the seventy
languages of the earth. [63:1] It
appears, however, that there was one language -- the Syriac - which
the angels do not understand, and for this reason men were not
permitted to pray for things needful in that
tongue. [63:2] Angels are appointed as
princes over the seventy nations of the world; but the Jews
consider the angels set over Gentile nations merely
demons. [63:3] The Septuagint translation
of Deuteronomy 32:8 introduces the statement into the Old
Testament. Instead of the Most High, when he divided to the nations
their inheritance, setting the bounds of the people "according to
the number of the children of Israel," the passage becomes,
"according to the number of the angels of God (kata arithmon
angelôn Theou). The number of the nations was fixed at
seventy, the number of the souls who went down into
Egypt. [63:4] The Jerusalem Targum on
Genesis 11:7:8, reads as follows "God spake to the seventy angels
which stand before him: Come, let us go down and confound their
language that they may not understand each other. And the word of
the Lord appeared there (at Babel), with the seventy angels,
according to the seventy nations, and each had the language of the
people which was allotted to him, and the record of the writing in
his hand, and scattered the nations from thence over the whole
earth in seventy languages, so that the one did not understand what
the other said." [63:5] Michael was the angel of the
people of Israel, [63:6] and he is always set in the
highest place amongst the angels, and often called the High Priest
of Heaven. [63:7] It was
believed that the angels of the nations fought in heaven when their
allotted peoples made war on earth. We see an allusion to this in
the Book of Daniel, [63:8] and in
the Apocalypse there is "war in heaven; Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels." [63:9] The Jews
of the time of Jesus not only held that there were angels set over
the nations, but also that each individual had a guardian
angel. [64:1] This belief appears in
several places in the New Testament. For instance, Jesus is
represented as saying of the children: "For I say unto you that
their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven." [64:2] Again, in the Acts of the
Apostles, when Peter is delivered from prison by an angel and comes
to the house of his friend, they will not believe the maid who had
opened the gate and seen him, but say: "It is his angel" (ho
angelos autou estin). [64:3] The
passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews will likewise be remembered
where it is said of the angels: "Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth for ministry on account of them who shall be
heirs of salvation." [64:4] There was
at the same time a singular belief that when any person went into
the private closet the guardian angel remained at the door till he
came out again, and in the Talmud a prayer is given for strength
and help under the circumstances, and that the guardian angel may
wait while the person is there. The reason why the angel does not
enter is that such places are haunted by demons. [64:5]

Demonology of the Jews
The belief in demons at the time of Jesus was equally emphatic and
comprehensive, and we need scarcely mention that the New Testament
is full of references to them. [64:6] They are
in the air, on earth, in the bodies of men and animals, and even at
the bottom of the sea. [64:7] They are
the offspring of the fallen angels who loved the daughters of
men. [64:8] They have wings like the
angels, and can fly from one end of heaven to another; they obtain
a knowledge of the future, like the angels, by listening behind the
veil of the Temple of God in heaven. [64:9] Their
number is infinite. The earth is so full of them that if man had
power to see he could not exist on account of them; there are more
demons than men, and they are about as close as the earth thrown up
out of a newly-made grave. [64:10] It is stated that each man has 10,000 demons at
his right hand and 1,000 on his left, and the passage continues:
"The crush on the Sabbath in the synagogue arises from them, also
the dresses of the Rabbins become so soon old and torn through
their rubbing; in like manner they cause the tottering of the feet.
He who wishes to discover these spirits must take sifted ashes and
strew them about his bed, and in the morning he will perceive their
footprints upon them like a cock's tread. If anyone wish to see
them, he must take the afterbirth of a black cat which has been
littered by a first-born black cat, whose mother was also a
first-birth, burn and reduce it to powder, and put some of it in
his eyes, and he will see them." [65:1] Sometimes
demons assume the form of a goat. Evil spirits fly chiefly during
the darkness, for they are children of night. [65:2] For this reason the Talmud states that men
are forbidden to greet anyone by night, lest it might be a
devil, [65:3] or to go out
alone even by day, but much more by night, into solitary
places. [65:4] It was likewise forbidden
for any man to sleep alone in a house, because anyone so doing
would be seized by the she-devil Lilith and die. [65:5] Further, no man should drink
water by night on account of the demon Schafriri, the angel of
blindness. [65:6] An evil spirit descended on
anyone going into a cemetery by night. [65:7] A necromancer is defined as
one who fasts and lodges at night amongst tombs, in order that the
evil spirit may come upon him. [65:8] Demons,
however, take more especial delight in foul and offensive places,
and an evil spirit inhabits every private closet in the
world. [65:9] Demons haunt deserted
places, ruins, graves, and certain kinds of trees. [65:10] We find indications of
these superstitions throughout the Gospels. The possessed are
represented as dwelling among the tombs and being driven by the
unclean spirits into the wilderness, and the demons can find no
rest in clean places. [65:11] Demons
also frequented springs and fountain. [65:12] The episode of the angel who was said to descend
at certain seasons and trouble the water of the pool of Bethesda,
so that he who first stepped in was cured of whatever disease he
had, may be mentioned here in passing, although the passage is not
found in some of the older MSS. of the fourth Gospel, [66:1] and it is argued by some that it is a later
interpolation. There were demons who hurt those who did not wash
their hands before meat. "Shibta is an evil spirit which sits upon
men's hands in the night, and if any touch his food with unwashen
hands that spirit sits upon that food, and there is danger from
it." [66:2] The demon Asmodeus is
frequently called the king of the devils, [66:3] and it was believed that he
tempted people to apostatise; he it was who enticed Noah into his
drunkenness, and led Solomon into sin. [66:4] He is represented as alternately ascending
to study in the school of the heavenly Jerusalem, and descending to
study in the school of the earth. [66:5] The injury
of the human race in every possible way was believed to be the
chief delight of evil spirits. The Talmud and other Rabbinical
writings are full of references to demoniacal possession; but we
need not enter into details upon this point, as the New Testament
itself presents sufficient evidence regarding it. Not only one evil
spirit could enter into a body, but many took possession of the
same individual. There are many instances mentioned in the Gospels,
such as Mary Magdalene, "out of whom went seven demons"
(daimonia hepta), [66:6] and the
man whose name was Legion, because "many demons" (daimonia
polla) were entered into him. [66:7] Demons
likewise entered into the bodies of animals, and in the narrative
to which we have just referred the demons, on being expelled from
the man, request that they may be allowed to enter into the herd of
swine, which, being permitted, "the demons went out of the man into
the swine, and the herd ran violently down the cliff into the lake,
and were drowned," [66:8] the evil spirits, as usual,
taking pleasure only in the destruction and injury of man and
beast. Besides "possession," all the diseases of
men and animals were ascribed to the action of the devil and of
demons. [67:1] In the Gospels, for
instance, the woman with a spirit of infirmity, who was bowed
together and could not lift herself up, is described as "bound by
Satan," although the case was not one of demoniacal
possession. [67:2]

Superstitions of the Jews
As might be expected from the universality of the belief in demons
and their influence over the human race, the Jews at the time of
Jesus occupied themselves much with the means of conjuring them.
"There was hardly any people in the whole world," we have already
heard from a great Hebrew scholar, "that more used, or were more
fond of, amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of
enchantments." [67:3] Schoettgen bears similar
testimony: "Caeterum judaeos magicis artibus admodum deditos
esse, notissimum est." [67:4] All
competent scholars are agreed upon this point, and the Talmud and
Rabbinical writings are full of it. The exceeding prevalence of
such arts alone proves the existence of the grossest ignorance and
superstition. There are elaborate rules in the Talmud with regard
to dreams, both as to how they are to be obtained and how
interpreted. [67:5] Fasts were enjoined in order
to secure good dreams, and these fasts were not only observed by
the ignorant, but also by the principal Rabbins, and they were
permitted even on the Sabbath, which was unlawful in other
cases. [67:6] Indeed, the
interpretation of dreams became a public
profession. [67:7] It would be impossible
within our limits to convey an adequate idea of the general
superstition prevalent amongst Jews regarding things and actions
lucky and unlucky, or the minute particulars in regard to every
common act prescribed for safety against demons and evil influences
of all kinds. Nothing was considered indifferent
or too trifling, and the danger from the most trivial movements or
omissions to which men were supposed to be exposed from the
malignity of evil spirits was believed to be
great. [68:1] Amulets, consisting of
roots, or pieces of paper with charms written upon them, were hung
round the neck of the sick, and considered efficacious for their
cure. Charms, mutterings, and spells were commonly said over
wounds, against unlucky meetings, to make people sleep, to heal
diseases, and to avert enchantments. [68:2] The
Talmud gives forms of enchantments against mad dogs, for instance,
against the demon of blindness, and the like, as well as formulae
for averting the evil eye, and mutterings over
diseases. [68:3] So common was the practice
of sorcery and magic that the Talmud enjoins "that the senior who
is chosen into the council ought to be skilled in the arts of
astrologers, jugglers, diviners, sorcerers, etc., that he may be
able to judge of those who are guilty of the
same." [68:4] Numerous cases are recorded
of persons destroyed by means of sorcery. [68:5] The Jewish women were
particularly addicted to sorcery and, indeed, the Talmud declares
that they had generally fallen into it. [68:6] The New Testament bears
abundant testimony to the prevalence of magic and exorcism at the
time at which its books were written. In the Gospels, Jesus is
represented as arguing with the Pharisees, who accuse him of
casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils: "If I by
Beelzebub cast out the demons (ta daimonia), by whom do your
sons cast them out? Therefore, let them be your
judges." [68:7]

Exorcism of Demons
The thoroughness and universality of the Jewish popular belief in
demons and evil spirits and in the power of magic is exhibited in
the ascription to Solomon, the monarch in whom the greatness and
glory of the nation attained its culminating point, of the
character of the powerful magician. The most effectual forms of
invocation and exorcism and the most potent spells of magic were
said to have been composed by him, and thus the grossest
superstition of the nation acquired the sanction of their wisest
king. Rabbinical writings are never weary of enlarging upon the
magical power and knowledge of Solomon. He was represented as not
only king of the whole earth, but also as reigning over devils and
evil spirits, and having the power of expelling them from the
bodies of men and animals, and also of delivering people to
them. [68:8] It was,
indeed, believed that the two demons Asa and Asael taught Solomon
all wisdom and all arts. [69:1] The
Talmud relates many instances of his power over evil spirits, and,
amongst others, how he made them assist in building the Temple.
Solomon desired to have the help of the worm Schamir in preparing
the stones for the sacred building, and he conjured up a devil and
a she-devil to inform him where Schamir was to be found. They
referred him to Asmodeus, whom the King craftily captured, and by
whom he was informed that Schamir is under the jurisdiction of the
Prince of the Seas; and Asmodeus further told him how he might be
secured. By his means the Temple was built, but, from the moment it
was destroyed, Schamir for ever disappeared. [69:2] It was likewise believed
that one of the Chambers of the second Temple was built by the
magician called Parvah, by means of magic. [69:3] The Talmud narrates many
stories of miracles performed by various Rabbins. [69:4]

The Jewish historian Josephus informs us that,
among other gifts, God bestowed upon King Solomon knowledge of the
way to expel demons, an art which is useful and salutary for
mankind. He composed incantations by which diseases are cured, and
he left behind him forms of exorcism by which demons may be so
effectually expelled that they never return -- a method of cure,
Josephus adds, which is of great efficacy to his own day. He
himself had seen a countryman of his own, named Eliezer, release
people possessed of devils in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian
and his sons, and of his army. He put a ring containing one of the
roots prescribed by Solomon to the nose of the demoniac, and drew
the demon out by his nostrils; and, in the name of Solomon, and
reciting one of his incantations, he adjured it to return no more.
In order to demonstrate to the spectators that he had the power to
cast out devils, Eliezer was accustomed to set a vessel full of
water a little way off, and he commanded the demon as he left the
body of the man to overturn it, by which means, says Josephus, the
skill and wisdom of Solomon were made very
manifest. [69:5] Jewish Rabbins generally
were known as powerful exorcisers, practising the art according to
the formulae of their great monarch. Justin
Martyr reproaches his Jewish opponent, Tryphon, with the fact that
his countrymen use the same art as the Gentiles, and exorcise with
fumigations and charms (katadesmoi), and he shows the common
belief in demoniacal influence when he asserts that, while Jewish
exorcists cannot overcome demons by such means, or even by
exorcising them in the name of their kings, prophets, or
patriarchs, though he admits that they might do so if they adjured
them in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet
Christians at once subdued demons by exorcising them in the name of
the Son of God. [70:1] The Jew and the Christian
were quite agreed that demons were to be exorcised, and merely
differed as to the formula of exorcism. Josephus gives an account
of a root potent against evil spirits. It is called Baaras, and is
flame-coloured, and in the evening sends out flashes like
lightning. It is certain death to touch it, except under peculiar
conditions. One mode of securing it is to dig down till the smaller
part of the root is exposed, and then to attach the root to a dog's
tail. When the dog tries to follow its master from the place, and
pulls violently, the root is plucked up, and may then be safely
handled; but the dog instantly dies, as the man would have done had
he plucked it up himself. When the root is brought to sick people,
it at once expels demons. [70:2] According
to Josephus, demons are the spirits of the wicked dead; they enter
into the bodies of the living, who die unless succour be speedily
obtained. [70:3] This theory, however, was
not general, demons being commonly considered the offspring of the
fallen angels and of the daughters of men.

The Jewish historian gives a serious account of the
preternatural portents which warned the Jews of the approaching
fall of Jerusalem, and he laments the infatuation of the people,
who disregarded these Divine denunciations. A star in the shape of
a sword, and also a comet, stood over the doomed city for the space
of a whole year. Then, at the feast of unleavened bread, before the
rebellion of the Jews which preceded the war, at the ninth hour of
the night, a great light shone round the altar and the Temple, so
that for half an hour it seemed as though it were brilliant
daylight. At the same festival other supernatural warnings were
given. A heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be
sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the Temple; moreover, the
eastern gate of the inner court of the Temple, which was of brass,
and so ponderous, that twenty men had much difficulty in closing
it, and which was fastened by heavy bolts descending deep into the
solid stone flour, was seen to open of its own accord, about the
sixth hour of the night. The ignorant considered some of these
events good omens, but the priests interpreted them as portents of
evil. Another prodigious phenomenon occurred,
which Josephus supposes would be considered incredible were it not
reported by those who saw it, and were the subsequent events not of
sufficient importance to merit such portents: before sunset,
chariots and troops of soldiers in armour were seen among the
clouds, moving about, and surrounding cities. And further, at the
feast of Pentecost, as the priests were entering the inner court of
the Temple to perform their sacred duties, they felt an earthquake,
and heard a great noise, and then the sound as of a great multitude
saying, "Let us remove hence." [71:1] There is
not a shadow of doubt in the mind of Josephus as to the reality of
any of these wonders.

Cosmical Theories of the
Fathers
If we turn to patristic literature, we find everywhere the same
superstitions and the same theories of angelic agency and
demoniacal interference in cosmical phenomena. According to Justin
Martyr, after God had made the world and duly regulated the
elements and the rotation of the seasons, he committed man and all
things under heaven to the care of angels. Some of these angels,
however, proved unworthy of this charge and, led away by love of
the daughters of men, begat children, who are the demons who have
corrupted the human race, partly by magical writings (dia
magikôn graphôn) and partly by fears and
punishments, and who have introduced wars, murders, and other evils
among them, which are ignorantly ascribed by poets to God
himself. [71:2] He considers that demoniacs
are possessed and tortured by the souls of the wicked
dead, [71:3] and he represents evil
spirits as watching to seize the soul at death. [71:4] The food of the angels is
manna. [71:5] The angels, says Clement of
Alexandria, serve God in the administration of earthly
affairs. [71:6] The host of angels and of
gods (Theôn) is placed under subjection to the
Logos. [71:7] Presiding angels are
distributed over nations and cities, and perhaps are also deputed
to individuals, [71:8] and it is, by their agency,
either visible or invisible, that God gives all good
things. [71:9] He accuses the Greeks of
plagiarising their miracles from the Bible, and he argues that, if
certain powers do move the winds and distribute showers, they are
agents subject to God. [71:10]
Clement affirms that the Son gave philosophy to the Greeks by means
of the inferior angels, [71:11] and
argues that it is absurd to attribute it to the
devil. [71:12]
Theophilus of Antioch, on the other hand, says that the Greek poets
were inspired by demons. [72:1]
Athenagoras states, as one of the principal points of belief among
Christians, that a multitude of angels and ministers are
distributed and appointed by the Logos to occupy themselves about
the elements and the heavens and the universe and the things in it,
and the regulating of the whole. [72:2] For it is
the duty of the angels to exercise providence over all that God has
created, so that God may have the universal care of the whole, but
the several parts be ministered to by the angels appointed over
them. There is freedom of will amongst the angels as among human
beings, and some of the angels abused their trust, and fell through
love of the daughters of men, of whom were those who are called
giants. [72:3] These angels who have fallen
from heaven busy themselves about the air and the earth; and the
souls of the giants, [72:4] which are
the demons that roam about the world, work evil according to their
respective natures. [72:5] There are
powers which exercise dominion over matter, and by means of it, and
more especially one who is opposed to God. This Prince of matter
exerts authority and control in opposition to the good designed by
God. [72:6] Demons are greedy for
sacrificial odours and the blood of the victims, which they lick,
and they influence the multitude to idolatry by inspiring thoughts
and visions which seem to come from idols and
statues. [72:7] According to Tatian, God
made everything which is good, but the wickedness of demons
perverts the productions of nature for bad purposes, and the evil
in these is due to demons and not to God. [72:8] None of the demons have
bodies -- they are spiritual, like fire or air, and can only be
seen by, those in whom the Spirit of God dwells. They attack men by
means of lower forms of matter, and come to them whenever they are
diseased; and sometimes they cause disorders of the body, but when
they are struck by the power of the word of God they flee in
terror, and the sick person is healed. [72:9] Various kinds of roots and
the relations of bone and sinew are the material elements through
which demons work. [72:10] Some of those who are called gods by the Greeks,
but are in reality demons, possess the bodies of certain men, and
then, by publicly leaving them, they destroy the disease they
themselves had created, and the sick are restored to health.
[73:1] Demons, says Cyprian of Carthage, lurk under
consecrated statues, and inspire false oracles and control the lots
and omens. [73:2] They enter into human bodies
and feign various maladies in order to induce men to offer
sacrifices for their recovery, that they may gorge themselves with
the fumes, and then they heal them. They are really the authors of
the miracles attributed to heathen deities. [73:3]

Tertullian enters into minute details regarding
angels and demons. Demons are the offspring of the fallen angels,
and their work is the destruction of the human race. They inflict
diseases and other painful calamities upon our bodies, and lead
astray our souls. From their wonderful subtleness and tenuity they
find their way into both parts of our composition. Their
spirituality enables them to do much harm to men, for, being
invisible and impalpable, they appear rather in their effects than
in their action. They blight the apples and the grain while in the
flower as by some mysterious poison in the breeze, and kill them in
the bud, or nip them before they are ripe, as though in some
inexpressible way the tainted air poured forth its pestilential
breath. In the same way demons and angels breathe into the soul and
excite its corruptions, and especially mislead men by inducing them
to sacrifice to false deities, in order that they may thus obtain
their peculiar food of fumes of flesh and blood. Every spirit,
whether angel or demon, has wings; therefore, they are everywhere
in a moment. The whole world is but one place to them, and all that
takes place anywhere they can know and report with equal facility.
Their swiftness is believed to be divine because their substance is
unknown, and thus they seek to be considered the authors of effects
which they merely report, as, indeed, they sometimes are of the
evil, but never of the good. They gather intimations of the future
from hearing the prophets read aloud, and set themselves up as
rivals of the true God by stealing his divinations. From inhabiting
the air, and from their proximity to the stars and commerce with
the clouds, they know the preparation of celestial phenomena, and
promise beforehand the rains which they already feel coming.
They are very kind in reference to the cure of
diseases, Tertullian ironically says, for they first make people
ill, and then, by way of performing a miracle, they prescribe
remedies either novel or contrary to common experience, and,
removing the cause, they are believed to have healed the
sick. [74:1] If anyone possessed by a
demon be brought before a tribunal, Tertullian affirms that the
evil spirit, when ordered by a Christian, will at once confess that
he is a demon. [74:2] The fallen angels were the
discoverers of astrology and magic. [74:3] Unclean
spirits hover over waters in imitation of the brooding
(gestatio) of the Holy Spirit in the beginning, as, for
instance, over dark fountains and solitary streams and cisterns in
baths and dwelling-houses and similar places, which are said to
carry one off (rapere) -- that is to say, by the force of
the evil spirit. [74:4] The fallen angels disclosed
to the world unknown material substances and various arts such as
metallurgy, the properties of herbs, incantations, and
interpretation of the stars; and to women specially they revealed
all the secrets of personal adornment. [74:5] There is scarcely any man
who is not attended by a demon; and it is known that untimely, and
violent deaths which are attributed to accidents are really caused
by demons. [74:6] Those who go to theatres may
become specially accessible to demons. There is the instance, the
Lord is witness (domino teste), of the woman who went to a
theatre and came back possessed by a demon, and, on being cast out,
the evil spirit replied that he had a right to act as he did,
having found her within his limits. There was another case, also
well known, of a woman who at night, after having been to a
theatre, had a vision of a winding sheet (linteum), and
heard the name of the tragedian whom she had seen mentioned with
reprobation, and five days after the woman was
dead. [74:7] Origen attributes augury and
divination through animals to demons. In his opinion, certain
demons, offspring of the Titans or giants, who haunt the grosser
parts of bodies and the unclean places of the earth, and who, from
not having earthly bodies, have some power of divining the future,
occupy themselves with this. They secretly enter the bodies of the
more brutal and savage animals, and force them to make flights or
indications of divination to lead men away from God. They have a
special leaning to birds and serpents, and even to foxes and
wolves, because the demons act better through these in consequence
of an apparent analogy in wickedness between them. [74:8] It is for this reason that
Moses, who had either been taught by God what was similar in the
nature of animals and their kindred demons, or had discovered it
himself, prohibited as unclean the particular birds and animals
most used for divination. Therefore, each kind of
demon seems to have an affinity with a certain kind of animal. They
are so wicked that demons even assume the bodies of weasels to
foretell the future. [75:1] They feed
on the blood and odour of the victims sacrificed in idol
temples. [75:2] The spirits of the wicked
dead wander about sepulchres, and sometimes for ages haunt
particular houses and other places. [75:3] The prayers
of Christians drive demons out of men, and from places where they
have taken up their abode, and even sometimes from the bodies of
animals, which are frequently injured by them. [75:4] In reply to a statement of
Celsus that we cannot eat bread or fruit, or drink wine or even
water, without eating and drinking with demons, and that the very
air we breathe is received from demons, and that, consequently, we
cannot inhale without receiving air from the demons who are set
over the air, [75:5] Origen maintains, on the
contrary, that the angels of God, and not demons, have the
superintendence of such natural phenomena, and have been appointed
to communicate all these blessings. Not demons but angels have been
set over the fruits of the earth and over the birth of animals and
over all things necessary for our race. [75:6] Scripture forbids the eating
of things strangled, because the blood is still in them -- and
blood, and more especially the fumes of it, is said to be the food
of demons. If we ate strangled animals, we might have demons
feeding with us; [75:7] but, in Origen's opinion, a
man only eats and drinks with demons when he eats the flesh of idol
sacrifices, and drinks the wine poured out in honour of
demons. [75:8] Jerome states the common
belief that the air is filled with demons. [75:9] Chrysostom says that angels
are everywhere in the atmosphere. [75:10]

Not content, however, with peopling earth and air
with angels and demons, the Fathers also shared the opinion, common
to Jews [75:11] and heathen philosophers,
that the heavenly bodies were animated beings. After fully
discussing the question, with much reference to Scripture, Origen
determines that sun, moon, and stars are living and rational
beings, illuminated with the light of knowledge by the wisdom which
is the reflection of eternal light. They have free will and, as it
would appear from a passage in Job (25:5), they are not only liable
to sin, but actually not pure from the uncleanness of it. Origen is
careful to explain that this has not reference merely to their
physical part, but to the spiritual; and he proceeds to discuss
whether their souls came into existence at the same time with their
bodies, or existed previously, and whether, at the end of the
world, they will be released from their bodies or will cease from
giving light to the world. He argues that they
are rational beings because their motions could not take place
without a soul. "As the stars move with so much order and method,"
he says, "that under no circumstances whatever does their course
seem to be disturbed, is it not the extreme of absurdity to suppose
that so much order, so much observance of discipline and method,
could be demanded from or fulfilled by irrational
beings?" [76:1] They possess life and
reason, he decides, and he proves from Scripture that their souls
were given to them, not at the creation of their bodily substance,
but like those of men implanted strictly from without, after they
were made. [76:2] They are "subject to vanity"
with the rest of the creatures, and "wait for the manifestation of
the sons of God." [76:3] Origen is persuaded that
sun, moon, and stars pray to the Supreme Being through his only
begotten Son. [76:4] To return to angels,
however, Origen states that the angels are not only of various
orders of rank, but have apportioned to them specific offices and
duties. To Raphael, for instance, is assigned the task of curing
and healing, to Gabriel the management of wars; to Michael the duty
of receiving the prayers and the supplications of men. Angels are
set over the different churches, and have charge even of the least
of their members. These offices were assigned to the angels by God
agreeably to the qualities displayed by each. [76:5] Elsewhere Origen explains
that it is necessary for this world that there should be angels set
over beasts and over terrestrial operations, and also angels
presiding over the birth of animals, and over the propagation and
growth of shrubs; and, again, angels over holy works, who eternally
teach men the perception of the hidden ways of God and knowledge of
divine things; and he warns us not to bring upon ourselves those
angels who are set over beasts, by leading an animal life, nor
those which preside over terrestrial works, by taking delight in
fleshly and mundane things, but rather to study how we may
approximate to the companionship of the Archangel Michael, to whose
duty of presenting the prayers of the saints to God he here adds
the office of presiding over medicine. [76:6] It is
through the ministry of angels that the water-springs in fountains
and running streams refresh the earth, and that the air we breathe
is kept pure. [77:1] In the Shepherd of
Hermas, a work quoted by the Fathers as inspired Scripture, which
was publicly read in the churches, which almost secured a permanent
place in the New Testament canon, and which appears after the
canonical books in the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest extant MS. of
the New Testament, mention is made of an angel who has rule over
beasts, and whose name is Hegrin. [77:2] Jerome
also quotes an apocryphal work in which an angel of similar name is
said to be set over reptiles, and in which fishes, trees, and
beasts are assigned to the care of particular angels. [77:3]

Clement of Alexandria mentions, without dissent,
the prevailing belief that hail-storms, tempests, and similar
phenomena do not occur merely from material disturbance, but also
are caused by the anger of demons and evil angels. [77:4] Origen states that, while
angels superintend all the phenomena of nature, and control what is
appointed for our good, famine, the blighting of vines and fruit
trees, and the destruction of beasts and of men, are, on the other
hand, the personal works [77:5] of
demons, they, as public executioners, receiving at certain times
authority to carry into effect divine decrees. [77:6] We have already quoted similar views
expressed by Tertullian, [77:7] and the
universality and permanence of such opinions may be illustrated by
the fact that, after the lapse of many centuries we find St. Thomas
Aquinas as solemnly affirming that disease and tempests are the
direct work of the devil; [77:8] indeed,
this belief prevailed throughout the middle ages until very recent
times. The Apostle Peter, in the Recognitions of Clement,
informs Clement that, when God made the world, he appointed chiefs
over the various creatures, even over the trees and the mountains
and springs and rivers, and over everything in the universe. An
angel was set over the angels, a spirit over spirits, a star over
the stars, a demon over the demons, and so on. [77:9] He provided different
offices for all his creatures, whether good or
bad; [77:10] but certain angels, having
left the course of their proper order, led men into sin and taught
them that demons could, by magical invocations, be made to obey
man. [77:11] Ham was the discoverer of
the art of magic. [77:12]
Astrologers suppose that evils happen in consequence of the motions
of the heavenly bodies, and represent certain climacteric periods
as dangerous, not knowing that it is not the course of the stars,
but the action of demons, that regulates these
things. [78:1] God has committed the
superintendence of the seventy-two nations into which he has
divided the earth to as many angels. [78:2] Demons
insinuate themselves into the bodies of men, and force them to
fulfil their desires; [78:3] they
sometimes appear visibly to men, and by threats or promises
endeavour to lead them into error, they can transform themselves
into whatever forms they please. [78:4] The
distinction between what is spoken by the true God through the
prophets or by visions, and that which is delivered by demons, is
this: that what proceeds from the former is always true, whereas
that which is foretold by demons is not always
true. [78:5] Lactantius says that when
the number of men began to increase, fearing that the Devil should
corrupt or destroy them, God sent angels to protect and instruct
the human race, but the angels themselves fell beneath his wiles,
and from being angels they became the satellites and ministers of
Satan. The offspring of these fallen angels are unclean spirits,
authors of all the evils which are done, and the Devil is their
chief. They are acquainted with the future, but not completely. The
art of the magi is altogether supported by these demons, and at
their invocation they deceive men with lying tricks, making men
think they see things which do not exist. These contaminated
spirits wander over all the earth, and console themselves by the
destruction of men. They fill every place with frauds and deceits,
for they adhere to individuals, and occupy whole houses, and assume
the name of genii, as demons are called in the Latin language, and
make men worship them. On account of their tenuity and
impalpability, they insinuate themselves into the bodies of men,
and through their viscera injure their health, excite diseases,
terrify their souls with dreams, agitate their minds with
phrenzies, so that they may by these evils drive men to seek their
aid. [78:6] Being
adjured in the name of God, however, they leave the bodies of the
possessed, uttering the greatest howling, and crying out that they
are beaten, or are on fire. [78:7] These
demons are the inventors of astrology, divination, oracles,
necromancy, and the art of magic. [78:8] The
universe is governed by God through the medium of angels. The demons have a foreknowledge of the purposes of God,
from having been his ministers and, interposing in what is being
done, they ascribe the credit to themselves. [79:1] The sign of the cross is a
terror to demons, and at the sight of it they flee from the bodies
of men. When sacrifices are being offered to the gods, if one be
present who bears on his forehead the sign of the cross, the sacred
rites are not propitious (sacra nullo modo litant), and the
oracle gives no reply. [79:2]

Patristic Theory of Demons
Eusebius, like all the Fathers, represents the gods of the Greeks
and other heathen nations, as merely wicked demons. Demons, he
says, whether they circulate in the dark and heavy atmosphere which
encircles our sphere or inhabit the cavernous dwellings which exist
within it, find charms only in tombs and in the sepulchres of the
dead, and in impure and unclean places. They delight in the blood
of animals, and in the putrid exhalations which rise from their
bodies, as well as in earthly vapours. Their leaders, whether as
inhabitants of the upper regions of the atmosphere or plunged in
the abyss of hell, having discovered that the human race had
deified and offered sacrifices to men who were dead, promoted the
delusion in order to savour the blood which flowed and the fumes of
the burning flesh. They deceived men by the motions conveyed to
idols and statues, by the oracles they delivered and by healing
diseases, with which, by the power inherent in their nature, they
had before invisibly smitten bodies, and which they removed by
ceasing to torture them. These demons first introduced magic
amongst men. [79:3] We may here refer to the
account of a miracle which Eusebius seriously quotes, as
exemplifying another occasional function of the angels. The
heretical Bishop Natalius, having in vain been admonished by God in
dreams, was at last lashed through the whole of a night by holy
angels, till he was brought to repentance and, clad in sackcloth
and covered with ashes, he at length threw himself at the feet of
Zephyrinus, then Bishop of Rome, pointing to the marks of the
scourges which he had received from the angels, and implored to be
again received into communion with the Church. [79:4] Augustine says that demons
inhabit the atmosphere, as in a prison, and deceive men, persuading
them, by their wonderful and false signs or doings or predictions,
that they are gods. [79:5] He
considers the origin of their name in the Sacred Scriptures worthy
of notice; they are called Daimones in Greek, on account of
their knowledge. [79:6] By their experience of
certain signs, which are hidden from us, they can read much more of
the future, and sometimes even announce beforehand what they intend
to do. Speaking of his own time, and with strong
expressions of assurance, Augustine says that not only Scripture
testifies that angels have appeared to men with bodies which could
not only be seen, but felt but, what is more, it is a general
report, and many have personal experience of it, or have learned it
from those who have knowledge of the fact, and of whose truth there
is no doubt, that satyrs and fauns, generally called Incubi,
have frequently perpetrated their peculiar
wickedness; [80:1] and also that certain
demons, called by the Gauls Dusii, every day attempt and
effect the same uncleanness, as witnesses equally numerous and
trustworthy assert, so that it would be impertinence to deny
it. [80:2]

Lactantius, again, ridicules the idea that there
can be antipodes, and he can scarcely credit that there can be
anyone so silly as to believe that there are men whose feet are
higher than their heads, or that grain and trees grow downwards,
and rain, snow, and hail fall upwards to the earth. After jesting
at those who hold such ridiculous views, he points out that their
blunders arise from supposing that the heaven is round, and the
world, consequently, round like a ball, and enclosed within it. But
if that were the case, it must present the same appearance to all
parts of heaven, with mountains, plains, and seas, and consequently
there would be no part of the earth uninhabited by men and animals.
Lactantius does not know what to say to those who, having fallen
into such an error, persevere in their folly (stultitia),
and defend one vain thing by another; but sometimes he supposes
that they philosophise in jest, or knowingly defend falsehoods to
display their ingenuity. Space alone prevents his proving that it
is impossible for heaven to be below the earth. [80:3] St. Augustine, with equal
boldness, declares that the stories told about the antipodes --
that is to say, that there are men whose feet are against our
footsteps, and upon whom the sun rises when it sets to us -- are
not to be believed. Such an assertion is not supported by any
historical evidence, but rests upon mere conjecture, based on the
rotundity of the earth. But those who maintain such a theory do not
consider that, even if the earth be round, it does not follow that
the opposite side is not covered with water.
Besides, if it be not, why should it be inhabited, seeing that, on
the one hand, it is in no way possible that the Scriptures can lie,
and, on the other, it is too absurd (nimisque absurdum est)
to affirm that any men can have traversed such an immensity of
ocean to establish the human race there from that one first man
Adam? [81:1]

Patristic Views of the
Phoenix
Clement of Rome had no doubt of the truth of the story of the
Phoenix, [81:2] that wonderful bird of
Arabia and the adjoining countries which lives 500 years, at the
end of which time, its dissolution being at hand, it builds a nest
of spices, in which it dies. From the decaying flesh, however, a
worm is generated, which, being strengthened by the juices of the
bird, produces feathers and is transformed into a Phoenix. Clement
adds that it then flies away with the nest containing the bones of
its defunct parent to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and in full
daylight and in the sight of all men it lays them on the altar of
the sun. On examining their registers, the priests find that the
bird has returned precisely at the completion of the 500 years.
This bird, Clement considers, is an emblem of the
Resurrection. [81:3] So does Tertullian, who
repeats the story with equal confidence. [81:4] It is likewise referred to
in the Apostolic Constitutions. [81:5] Celsus
quotes the narrative in his work against Christianity as an
instance of the piety of irrational creatures, and although Origen,
in reply, while admitting that the story is indeed recorded, puts
in a cautious "if it be true," he proceeds to account for the
phenomenon on the ground that God may have made this isolated
creature in order that men might admire not the bird, but its
creator. [81:6] Cyril of Jerusalem likewise
quotes the story from Clement. [81:7] The author of the almost canonical Epistle of Barnabas,
explaining the typical meaning of the code of Moses regarding clean
and unclean animals which were or were not to be eaten, states as a
fact that the hare annually increases the number of its
foramina, for it has as many as the years it
lives. [82:1] He also mentions that the
hyena changes its sex every year, being alternately male and
female. [82:2] Tertullian also points out
as a recognised fact the annual change of sex of the hyena, and he
adds: "I do not mention the stag, since itself is the witness of
its own age; feeding on the serpent, it languishes into youth from
the working of the poison." [82:3] The
geocentric theory of the Church, which elevated man into the
supreme place in the universe, and considered creation in general
to be solely for his use, naturally led to the misinterpretation of
all cosmical phenomena. Such spectacles as eclipses and comets were
universally regarded as awful portents of impending evil, signs of
God's anger, and forerunners of national
calamities. [82:4] We have already referred to
the account given by Josephus of the portents which were supposed
to announce the coming destruction of the Holy City, amongst which
were a star shaped like a sword, a comet, and other celestial
phenomena. Volcanoes were considered openings into hell, and not
only does Tertullian hold them to be so, but he asks, Who will not
deem these punishments sometimes inflicted upon mountains as
examples of the judgments which menace the wicked? [82:5]